One morning Gandhiji was talking to his colleague, “Today. I could not sleep
till late night.”
‘Why?’
Gandhiji, “When I went to sleep, after sometime I heard some sound from the
fence on the rear side. When I looked there, I saw what looked like a mouth of a
Serpent.”
‘The warder sleeps outside. You could have called him.’
Gandhiji replied, “I understand that too. But, if I had called him, he would
have called others and they would have killed the serpent. Instead, I thought
that, if the serpent comes inside and bites me, let it bite but I will not call
the warder. But, later, I thought that if it comes inside and bites me, whatever
would have happened to me, let it happen. But, suppose it went out again after
biting me and if it was poisonous and bit the warder also, then he would have
also died. So, I asked myself, what would be my duty in such a situation? If I
don’t tell, warder’s life is in danger and if I tell then warder will kill it.”
“Then what happened?”
Gandhiji said, “I was confused. But, in the meantime, the moon rose in the sky
and the brightness of moonlight spread over the fence. I could then see that it
was not the neck of a serpent, but that of a lizard. Thereafter, I went to
sleep.”
The colleague then asked, what is wrong in killing a poisonous animal like
snake!
Gandhiji described to him the details of a conversation which he had with
Shrimad Rajchandra, and what he had told him long ago. Just as we love our own
life, likewise the animals also love their own. Therefore, true Ahimsa suggests
that, let it happen which is bound to happen to us, but we should not kill even
the animals.